Written Answers

Wednesday 8 March 2000

Scottish Executive

Ambulance Service

Mrs Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to instruct the Scottish Ambulance Service to move to a priority dispatch system.

Susan Deacon: One of the main recommendations of the National Audit Office in its recent report The Scottish Ambulance Service: A Service for Life is that the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Ambulance Service should consider and should decide on whether to introduce a system of priority-based dispatch for emergency ambulances in Scotland. That report is currently under review by the Audit Committee which, as part of its evidence gathering, interviewed the Chief Executive of the NHS in Scotland and the Chief Executive of the Ambulance Service on Tuesday 7 March.

  As part of his evidence to the Committee, the Chief Executive of the NHS in Scotland indicated that £100,000 had been allocated to the Scottish Ambulance Service from 1 April 2000 to assist them in reviewing the evidence for priority-based dispatch, in preparing a case to show whether such a system would provide a better and more responsive system of answering 999 calls, and in establishing the costs involved.

  Once the facts are known, and after proper consultation with the ambulance staff and others, I will decide whether a priority-based dispatch system should be introduced.

Employment

Mrs Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to salvage the 540 jobs to be lost at the Grampian Country Foods plant at Newbridge, and what support is being offered to the Newbridge community to help it recover from these job losses and from the recent closure of the Continental Tyres factory.

Henry McLeish: Following Grampian Country Food’s announcement on 29 February, I met trade union and company representatives the following day to discuss the reasons for the decision and to ensure that all possible support would be provided to those affected. A team of public support agencies comprising Lothian and Edinburgh Enterprise Limited, the local authorities, Employment Service and Benefits Agency will begin work immediately to help redundant employees find new work and the company have agreed to co-operate fully with this team. I shall remain closely in contact with the company and support team to ensure that all possible assistance is being provided. I have every confidence that this partnership approach will be successful, as it has already proved to be for the ex-employees of Continental Tyres. Latest figures indicate that at least half of these employees have so far gained new employment.

Epilepsy

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidelines it will issue to schools on epilepsy awareness training, dealing effectively with seizures and the administration, where necessary, of rectal diazepam.

Mr Sam Galbraith: I have established a Working Group to produce good practice guidance on the administration of medicines in schools which will address these issues. The Epilepsy Association of Scotland is represented on the group.

European Convention on Human Rights

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the newly appointed Lord Advocate was in charge of the preparations for the European Convention on Human Rights within the Crown Office.

Colin Boyd QC: As Solicitor General, I was in charge of the preparations made by Crown Office, which were concerned with a review of prosecution practice and the training of all prosecutors in Convention law. Other departments of the Executive have been making their own preparations as regards their own areas of responsibility.

Fuel Poverty

Mr John McAllion (Dundee East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will include detailed measures for the eradication of fuel poverty within a specific timescale in the forthcoming Housing Bill.

Mr Frank McAveety: No. We already have detailed measures in place to tackle fuel poverty through the Warm Deal, New Housing Partnerships and investment programmes by local authorities and housing associations. Together they will improve 300,000 homes.

Health

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many saline and glucose bags were purchased by each health board and what was the cost in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Susan Deacon: Details of the number of bags purchased through the NHS central contract during the period November 1998 to October 1999 are as follows:

  


Health Board

  

Product

  

Total

  

Cost (£)

  


 

Glucose

  

Saline

  
 
 



Lothian

  

153,420

  

537,750

  

691,170

  

315,101.80

  



Greater Glasgow

  

286,840

  

964,760

  

1,251,600

  

577,985.10

  



Lanarkshire

  

95,960

  

272,060

  

368,020

  

167,196.80

  



Forth Valley

  

45,710

  

107,019

  

152,729

  

70,304.15

  



Fife

  

45,350

  

173,310

  

218,660

  

102,227.10

  



Borders

  

6,000

  

39,310

  

45,310

  

22,576.50

  



Dumfries &Galloway

  

24,920

  

63,260

  

88,180

  

40,039.50

  



Ayrshire & Arran

  

58,440

  

217,570

  

276,010

  

129,663.80

  



Argyll & Clyde

  

77,220

  

139,730

  

216,950

  

96,885.30

  



Grampian

  

67,850

  

251,140

  

318,990

  

146,498.60

  



Highland

  

18,850

  

72,069

  

90,919

  

44,888.15

  



Shetland & Orkney

  

1,760

  

4,180

  

5,940

  

2,674.00

  



Tayside

  

70,820

  

284,329

  

355,149

  

164,825.87

  



Western Isles

  

2,780

  

9,860

  

12,640

  

5,748.00

  



Totals

  

955,920

  

3,136,347

  

4,092,267

  

1,886,614.67

Health

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding it is proposing to allocate for research into and prevention of cardiomyopathy.

Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive has received no research proposals of a sufficiently high standard on cardiomyopathy recently and therefore does not directly fund research into heart muscle disease at present. However, we would be pleased to receive research applications on any of the three types of cardiomyopathy (dilated, restrictive and hypertrophic), especially as cardiovascular problems remain a priority of the Scottish Executive.

  We are aware of 129 research projects on cardiomyopathy which are currently taking place in the UK, five of which are taking place in Scotland. The results of the projects undertaken throughout the UK will inform the future direction of research and treatment of this disease.

  Details of all the UK projects are available from the National Research Register (NRR), a copy of which is in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to consult with the pharmaceutical professions regarding the greater participation in health service delivery by both community and hospital pharmacists.

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to further utilise the skills and knowledge of community pharmacists in Scotland and whether these plans include greater integration of community pharmacists into healthcare provision.

Susan Deacon: Pharmacists are increasingly being integrated into the extended primary care team and are playing a key role in the modernisation of primary health care services. At local level, improvements in pharmaceutical care of patients are planned through Health Improvement Programmes and Trust Implementation Plans. At national level, there are a number of initiatives underway including:

  a new national framework for the pharmaceutical care of patients in the community has been initiated through model schemes of care for the frail elderly, patients with severe and enduring mental illness and provision of out-of-hours pharmaceutical palliative care.

  developing a pilot project for the direct supply of medicines, which will allow pharmacists to supply to specific patients, direct and free of charge, certain "pharmacy only" and General Sales List medicines which would otherwise have been obtained on prescription from a GP.

  exploring the potential for the electronic transmission of prescription information between GPs, community pharmacists and the Common Services Agency.

  We will continue to work with the pharmaceutical profession, health boards and Trusts to ensure that pharmacists are fully engaged in contributing to the agenda for improving the health of the people of Scotland.

Health

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance or training is given to GPs, audiologists, social workers and ear, nose and throat specialists to allow them to correctly identify those who would benefit from being able to lip read.

Susan Deacon: Following an assessment and diagnosis of a significant hearing deficit or loss by a healthcare professional, the individual would normally be referred on to a speech and language therapist who is a member of the multi-disciplinary team. The speech and language therapist has the knowledge and contacts to assess whether training in lip reading is appropriate for the individual’s needs and to access such training.

Health

Mr Lloyd Quinan (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has received from Argyll and Clyde Acute Hospital NHS Trust regarding the Trust’s proposed recovery plan.

Susan Deacon: My officials are working closely with senior management at the Trust and health board to ensure robust recovery plans are produced. These plans should show how Trusts will continue to deliver high quality patient care within a robust and sustainable financial framework.

Health and Safety of NHS Staff

Mrs Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4098 by Susan Deacon on 15 February 2000, when it anticipates that the working group to identify the minimum datasets relating to the health and safety of NHS staff will be able to report back.

Susan Deacon: Our target is to establish the minimum occupational health and safety datasets by the end of April this year.

Health and Safety of NHS Staff

Mrs Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4098 by Susan Deacon on 15 February 2000, whether it intends to use the datasets established by the working group in order to audit centrally the number of attacks on staff in the NHS.

Susan Deacon: The minimum datasets will be used on a cascading basis to inform and enable local management at Practice and Trust level, health boards and the Scottish Executive to monitor, amongst other things, accidents and incidents to staff.

Health and Safety of NHS Staff

Mrs Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4098 by Susan Deacon on 15 February 2000, whether the minimum datasets established by the working group relating to health and safety of NHS staff will be published.

Susan Deacon: The Occupational Health and Safety minimum datasets will be issued to the service through a Management Executive Letter (MEL). The MEL will be placed on the Scottish Health website at www.show.scot.nhs.uk/.

Housing

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for the Scottish Homes development programme for the forthcoming year and how this programme will contribute to addressing the difficulties of developing socially rented housing in pressured rural areas of Scotland.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Homes development programme in 2000-01 is being announced today. Some £206 million will be disbursed and it is expected that this will deliver 6,000 new and improved homes. This is in line with the Executive’s commitment in Programme for Government to build and improve 18,000 homes over three years. We recognise the need to give greater priority to tackling the housing problems of rural areas and I am pleased to announce that Scottish Homes’ rural programme will be increased from around £41 million in the current year to £45 million in 2000-01 – an increase of 10%.

  As part of the Scottish Homes rural programme, I am proposing to pilot a new partnership approach to tackling difficulties in pressured rural areas where there are acute shortages of socially rented housing and constraints on new development due to shortages of available land and high development costs. The pilot will be led by Highland Council working in partnership with Scottish Homes, local housing associations and others. Around £10 million will be made available for the pilot over the next three years.

  I am also establishing a national steering group to monitor the Highland pilot and to advise me on how the lessons could be rolled out nationally in subsequent years. I am very glad to say that Lewis Shand Smith, a Scottish Homes board member has agreed to chair the steering group. CoSLA, the SFHA and other interested parties will be invited to be represented. I shall announce the full membership once responses to invitations have been received.

Justice

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many outstanding breaches of community service orders and probation orders are currently waiting to be dealt with by the courts.

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what is the average length of time taken to process a breach of (a) a probation order and (b) a community service order through the sheriff court.

Mr Jim Wallace: This information is not held centrally.

Justice

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what amount of money must be involved in cases of alleged fraud in order to trigger a police investigation in each police authority area; why such limits are imposed, and why these limits vary between police authority areas.

Mr Jim Wallace: It is for the police to investigate any incident of fraud reported to them. There is no arbitrary financial limit which triggers an investigation. Decisions on subsequent prosecutions are a matter for the Procurator Fiscal concerned.

Local Government Finance

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of total capital spending by local authorities in Scotland for each of the past three years and the current year and of expected capital spending in each of the next two years.

Mr Jack McConnell: A breakdown of total capital spending by local authorities for the past three years and allocations for the current year can be found in the letter placed in SPICe in response to question’s S1W-743 and S1W-744. While a breakdown of expected capital spending by local authorities for the next two years is not yet available, the provisional non-housing capital allocations for 2000-01 are detailed in the answer to question S1W-2609.

Post Offices

Shona Robison (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what effect a decision by Her Majesty’s Government to remove benefit payments from post offices will have on its social inclusion policy.

Henry McLeish: Benefit payment and post office issues are all reserved matters but the UK Government has made clear that those benefit recipients who wish to collect their benefits in cash at a post office will continue to be able to do so.

Publication Costs

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive (a) what were the total costs of the publication (design, photocopying, printing, Internet connection of text, distribution and costs of launch) of Social Justice…a Scotland where everyone matters including the Milestones, Sources and Definitions booklet and (b) how many copies of each of the documents were printed, who they were initially distributed to and how many additional copies have been requested and by whom.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The initial cost associated with producing the two documents on Social Justice was £50,503, including design, print, Internet and distribution costs. The costs of the launch were £3,033. Due to the high volume of requests, further copies have been ordered at a cost of £11,699. In total, 6,250 copies of Social Justice…a Scotland where everyone matters and 5,500 copies of the Milestones, Sources and Definitions document have been produced.

  The documents were distributed to a wide range of people and organisations including MSPs, local authorities and agencies, academics, the voluntary sector and members of the general public. Over and above the initial distribution of 1,650 copies of each document, around 2,000 additional copies of Social Justice…a Scotland where everyone matters and around 1,900 copies of the accompanying Milestones, Sources and Definitions booklet have been requested to date, again by a wide range of people and organisations.

Smoking

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government that the proposed additional tobacco taxes raised in Scotland as part of the "tobacco escalator" will be hypothecated to the Scottish Executive to provide additional resources for the NHS.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the United Kingdom Government on a wide range of issues including additional tobacco taxes. The Executive will receive Barnett formula consequentials of increased health spending funded by additional tobacco taxes.

Social Work

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive,  further to the answer to question S1W-3539 by Iain Gray on 11 February 2000, whether it will publicise what percentage of the £43 million new monies made available for social work in 2000-01 was allocated to each local authority and the criteria under which the allocations were made.

Iain Gray: Each council’s allocation and percentage share is shown in the following table. The allocations arise from the distribution formulae for individual social work services agreed with CoSLA. These are set out in the Grant-Aided Expenditure 2000-01 Green Book , copies of which are available from SPICe.

  Allocations from Additional Social Work Grant-Aided Expenditure 2000-01

  


Council

  

Allocation 

  from Additional Social Work GAE 2000-011


% 

  Share of Additional Social Work GAE

  






£ 

  million

  






Aberdeen 

  City

  

1.3

  

3.0%

  



Aberdeenshire

  

1.7

  

3.9%

  



Angus

  

0.8

  

1.9%

  



Argyll & 

  Bute

  

0.6

  

1.4%

  



Clackmannanshire

  

0.4

  

0.9%

  



Dumfries 

  & Galloway

  

1.3

  

2.9%

  



Dundee City

  

0.9

  

2.0%

  



East Ayrshire

  

1.0

  

2.2%

  



East Dunbartonshire

  

0.8

  

2.0%

  



East Lothian

  

0.7

  

1.7%

  



East Renfrewshire

  

0.7

  

1.6%

  



Edinburgh, 

  City of

  

4.3

  

9.8%

  



Eilean Siar

  

0.2

  

0.4%

  



Falkirk

  

1.4

  

3.1%

  



Fife

  

3.3

  

7.6%

  



Glasgow 

  City

  

5.5

  

12.7%

  



Highland

  

1.4

  

3.2%

  



Inverclyde

  

0.7

  

1.6%

  



Midlothian

  

0.8

  

1.7%

  



Moray

  

0.6

  

1.3%

  



North Ayrshire

  

1.3

  

3.0%

  



North Lanarkshire

  

2.9

  

6.6%

  



Orkney Islands

  

0.2

  

0.4%

  



Perth & 

  Kinross

  

1.2

  

2.8%

  



Renfrewshire

  

1.4

  

3.2%

  



Scottish 

  Borders

  

1.3

  

3.0%

  



Shetland 

  Islands

  

0.1

  

0.2%

  



South Ayrshire

  

1.1

  

2.6%

  



South Lanarkshire

  

2.8

  

6.4%

  



Stirling

  

0.7

  

1.7%

  



West Dunbartonshire

  

0.7

  

1.6%

  



West Lothian

  

1.5

  

3.5%

  



TOTAL

  

43.4

  

100.0%

  



  Notes:

  1. Allocations before damping.